Ruby Sparks (2012)

How vivid was your imagination as you were growing up? Were you easily influenced by the things you saw on TV? Did you ever imagine how you would react to impossible situations? Ruby Sparks is the name of a character who was created by award winning writer Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano). He’s written so much details about her, he feels like he knows her intimately, he feels like he has created the perfect woman. He has the shock of his life though when that character suddenly appears in his house.

review

Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan (Paul Dano’s actual girlfriend)) is an innocent young woman acting like she has known Calvin for a long time. As Calvin has been going to psychiatrist for a while he now believes he has completely lost it, but when others appear to see her as well he’s even more shocked. How is it all possible? It really doesn’t matter. She’s there and it’s up to Calvin to deal with the situation. He has created the perfect woman and with that come expectations. He has the power to change her with his typewriter (which results in some very funny situations), but quickly find out that living with someone day in and out into someone you find out isn’t that perfect at all.

Zoe Kazan (who has also written the screenplay) plays her role perfectly, having to show a woman who acts based on what someone else writes and showing a great range of emotions. Because her and Paul Dano are a real life couple the romance part of the movie is convincing. This is the second movie I remember seeing Paul Dano in (the other one was opposite of De Niro) and I’m quickly becoming a fan of his work.

I hadn’t heard too much of this movie in advance, but was impressed by what I saw. It’s a light hearted romantic comedy, but not the kind you might immediately think of when you hear about a romcom. It’s an original movie which keeps you guessing as you watch it and it makes you wish you, for a moment, had such a vivid imagination to write about something and make it become real. So here’s to a 2 day workweek with the same pay!

28 thoughts on “Ruby Sparks (2012)

  1. Glad you enjoyed this Nostra! I actually reviewed this a while back as I was fortunate to be a the screening with the filmmakers and cast, including Paul and Zoe. I didn’t know they were dating but Paul actually mentioned that during the Q&A. I was impressed with Zoe’s performance and her writing, but Paul was excellent in the way he conveyed writer’s block.

  2. Oohhhh, I am so watching this, sounds wonderful! And my imagination was (and still is) second to none – I created a whole alternate world for me and my brother in the woods around our house when we were kids.

  3. It starts off light-hearted enough, but then heads towards some pretty dark territory (a good thing in my books). I really loved the movie right until the last 5 minutes.

    Seriously, that ending almost destroyed the movie for me!

  4. I’m with you on this one. He is a burned out early success so how can he top it? By writing the perfect girlfriend then freaking out when reality sets in. Zoe Kazan has a screenwriter future for sure.

  5. I loved the idea of the movie, I just think they should have done more with the concept, the script mostly played out pretty much how I expected, I wanted a few more surprises. There were only a couple of scenes that really stood out for me, when they just met. I agree about the acting and chemistry, which worked well.

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